When Myrtle Beach decided it didn't want the annual motorcycle rallies, the bikers got the message and left -- at least for the most part.
Now, bar owners and certain businesses on the south end of the Grand Strand hope the displaced bikers will migrate to them.
"I'm hoping the bikers are going to come down and ... see the difference in attitudes you get down here on the south end of the beach versus on the north end of the beach," said Jimmy Motley, the owner of S.B.B. Original and S.B.B. Four Corners, both in Murrells Inlet.
In preparation for bike week, Motley has spent thousands this year on t-shirts, vendors and other entertainment, though business probably won't be as good as it was in years past.
In addition to Myrtle Beach's new anti-rally laws, the county passed its own ordinances that slashed the number of available vendor permits during the rallies.
"I used to be able to have 48 vendors, now I can't even have 18," Motley said.
Motley's general manager, Teddy Holford, said the reduction in vendors, plus Myrtle Beach's actions, hurt business by 55% last year.
This year, they hope the sting has worn off and that bikers will start to slowly come back to the Grand Strand, though they don't expect business to be as good as in years past.
"From working both sides of the US, people think that there's not anything to do here anymore," said David Leslie, a vendor from Florida who's setting up at SBB.
"You're going to Myrtle Beach?" people ask Leslie who says yes, and "they say ... I heard that's over."
The Cruisin' the Coast Spring Harley Rally runs May 7-16 this year.
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